What gaming headphones to buy? - Page 304

Must be nice! I played so long yesterday that my entire head was killing me. Where the band "naturally" falls of course went first, but then I slid the band all over into awkward positions, trying to find a way to wear them without hurting, and I pretty much wore out the comfort of my whole head, until eventually it wasn't very comfortable anywhere.

I'm honestly not sure if it's the bumps or just the constant downward pressure. Of course it's not like it's a lot of pressure, and I do find it to actually be VERY comfortable at first.

But maybe it's kind of like when I wear a tux, the suspenders always make my shoulders hurt by the end of the night. Not a lot of pressure overall, and doesn't do it at first, but I guess it's the constant pressure that gets me over time, I dunno. Or maybe I wear them too tight, and likewise I pull the headphones down too far? Or maybe I'm just a pussy lol.

Do people still wear suspenders with a tux?! lol.

Anyway, maybe it's where it's positioned on the head or something. I have pretty short hair too, so it's not like I've got a huge mane keeping it away from my skull.

Thanks for trying.


The F1 are mid fi headphones with some truly hi end attributes.. They are like speakers hanging on your ears.. the sound stage & 3d imaging has a small sound field that wraps around your head.. They have the biggest L/R sound stage I have ever heard, easily besting the 702 in that area.. The scope is incredible.. But the 702 is more spacious as a whole & is the better headphone overall.. Clarity & detail are much better IMO.... But you will spot enemies quicker with the F1, but they aren't as good as pin pointing the location as the AD700.. Read my AD700/F1 blog.


Glad you found my blog useful.

No problem!

I'm not gonna lie. The bumps on the K701 became a definite issue the first week I used them. They were painful. I started messing eith them by constantly pressing them down, and massaging them harshly. I'm not sure that actually did anything, but now I don't really feel the bumps at all. Either my head got used to them, or the bumps conformed to the shape of my head or something.

I haven't used the K701 in a truly long session for awhile, but have used them a few hours here and there. They're fine for me now. I'll probably use them for a long session tomorrow, and let my pillows--errm CAL take a rest from all the use they've been getting recently.

the bumps never really bothered me.

the only reason i went for the F1, is i wanted a "middle class man's" version of the k702, where the ad700 is a "poor man's" k702, haha.

also, with the way the F1's cup is constructed, it makes it very easy to (non-permanently) attach a microphone... and the F1's used typically go for about $120, vs $250 or so for the K702.... the k702's are a little better in my opinion, but not twice the price better, though i DO think they're $40 better than the AD700.... perfect middle ground, IMO. the F1 is much more musical (than the ad700) too, where the AD700 is pretty much going to be a dedicated gaming can if you go that way.

i also like the way the F1 looks, kind of nerdy, kind of futuristic, real techy... the k702 looks pretty classy but almost bland, and of course the style of the AD700 is somewhat controversial, and even though they look great in black, they're still rather huge.

Yeah.. The F1's look is pretty bad ass.. They have a really unique design & comfort is crazy.. Think of a feather on top of your head.. My main gripe was they sounded congested compared to my DT48's..But I am glad people are recognizing them as quality cans for gaming.. They are still my go to cans for FPS, when I had them..Bio shock was incredible. The sound just wrapped around my ears.. Very under rated IMO.. The L/R depth is simply nuts.. & 2nd only to the K1000 out of all the headphones I owned & auditioned in that area, which is over 30..

They look like my wife's Siberias....

That's exactly what I said a few posts ago. Going by the Siberia's comfort, I don't doubt the F1 is a 10/10 in comfort. Makes me really wanna try some out but I'm gonna stop myself...

You did, but I ignored it...

Are any of these Headphones good for Gaming:

Sennheiser HD555
AKG K240
Beyerdynamic DT770 250ohm

depends on the games/genre you play.

i wouldnt recommend the 555 for any scenario really.

I've never heard the HD555 or DT770 250, but I have the K240... and IMHO, a better headphone that the AD700 in both gaming and music. Very underrated headphone there. Add in the removable cable for easy Mic addition. It's a Win/Win scenario.

Why is it narrowed down to those? Do you already have them? Or are you open to recommendations?

More important than the particular headphone is having dolby headphone (or equivalent), IMO, from something like the astro mixamp or AX720 system.

I Play Mainly FPS, Action & RPGs

I've heard the AD700 barely has any bass, i'm not really that open to recommendations besides the three I Listed

but i am curious: How do Grados Sound for Gaming (SR125 and SR325)

What will you be driving the headphones with?

I've used the HD555's for the last 2.5 years and I've enjoyed them. But I wouldn't mind upgrading to something more recent. What would you guys recommend in the 100 to 200 range that would be an upgrade. (I'm driving them with a hk Dolby headphone receiver btw)

Most likely headphone amp straight from console via rca jacks

Do you already have the headphone amp? Are you considering dolby headphone decoding?

How are you connecting the mixamp and the e7 between the consoles?

I plan on getting it as soon as i make the decision on which headphones to get

The Amp is : creek obh-11

and what is dolby decoding? is that to get 5.1 sound?

PJ's talking about an amp/device that takes a 2 channel stereo signal and uses Dolby Headphone processing it to create a 5.1 surround effect. Probably the best choices to do that are the Astro Mixamp or the Tritton Ax720. Once you hear Dolby Headphone in action it almost becomes a necessity.

Edit: I should mention that you can use any amp you want with either of the devices above. So you can still get a clean, amplified signal and have Dolby processing.

So how would i hook a mixamp to the creek amp?

I have an Optical cable and rca cables

One thing though, Isn't double amping generally be considered a bad thing?

1st, I reread what I wrote...and it was wrong. The Mixamp or Ax720 takes a dolby digital signal and uses Dolby Headphone processing to position those sounds correctly within a 2 channel headphone. It basically makes the headphone sound like it has a 5.1 soundfield, using only the stereo speakers. Clear now?

That being said, you'd take the optical from the Xbox and connect it to the Dolby Headphone processor, and then take a '3.5mm to L/R RCA' cable (like this one) and use that to connect the headphone 'out' connection on the DH processor to the RCA 'in' connection on the Creek amp.

I can't really answer about double amping in general, but I can tell you that I do it with a Little Dot 1+ and the Tritton Ax720 and it works great. Many other people use various amps along with the Astro Mixamp. So it's a very popular solution among gamers.

well technically, and why it works so well, it's taking a 5.1 digital source signal, and converting it to a virtualized 2 channel signal, if you feed it a 2 channel signal, it can virtualize it, but nowhere near as well.... the reason DH works so well is because all 5 channels are present in the 2ch stream you're hearing.

Yeah, I corrected myself later when I realized I had that wrong.

Yeah, as has been said, it takes the digital 5.1 signal from the optical out and outputs a 2 channel signal for headphones that is virtualized surround sound created from the 5.1 signal. You could hook up an external amp as bb has said, although there may or may not even be a need for one (when gaming), depending on which headphones you buy and how hard they are to drive.

"Double amping" isn't ideal from a pure sound quality/signal stand point, but it works fine to get more volume in cases where a line out isn't available, such as with the mixamp and AX720. A lot of us are amping the headphone output since there isn't a line out available, and it works fine. Probably sacrifices a little sound quality, but in these cases you really wouldn't notice because it's not like the SQ is top notch to begin with, if that makes sense.

A regular amp like the creek (I'm not familiar with this particular amp) is great for music, especially when fed by a nice DAC, and would work for 2 channel with gaming as well, but the thing that all of us here in the gaming headphone thread find to be a necessity when gaming is actually the dolby headphone decoding as we talked about before, using either the astro mixamp or AX720 system (which is not quite as good, but is a complete system including headphones). Dolby headphone offers a more immersive and realistic sound stage for gaming in comparison to standard 2 channel as you are/were intending to hook it up. This is because most games offer true 5.1 sound, and the dolby headphone processing use all 5 channels to virtualize surround sound specifically for use with headphones. For me, and pretty much anyone who has tried it, it's a "must" for gaming with headphones.

Of course you can definitely hook up your amp to the regular 2 channel analog output of your gaming systems as well, like you were intending, and it will work and sound fine, you just won't have the more immersive 5.1 virtualized surround sound from the dolby headphone. And if you've never heard dolby headphone, you wouldn't know what you're missing anyway

Dolby headphone is tasty!

Yes, it tastes like bacon!

Anyone have a suggestion for attaching a mic to headphones for gaming? I would like the mic to be removable if at all possible so I can just listen to music sometimes without the mic attached.